FreedomPop Free Monthly 4G Goes Live, iPhone Sleeve Available for Pre-Order
Humberto SaabedraUpstart mobile broadband MVNO FreedomPop is preparing to roll out its unique service to interested customers and all it takes is $99 to secure a slot for its forthcoming mobile broadband service. FreedomPop works by offering a fixed amount of data access per month for free and integrates it with a social sharing layer that will allow users to gift unused data, as an example, to those that may be hitting their monthly limit.
The service was previously intended to provide users with 1GB of data access per month for free, but recent changes to the master agreement for the operator forced it to reduce its monthly data offering to 500MB per month to start with, which led to it integrating monthly access through the social layer in order to “earn” up to 1GB of data through the layer. The service is comprised of an iPhone sleeve that also doubles as an extended battery and the mobile broadband service is provided by Clearwire.
The goal of the service is to provide users with free, consistent data access for those users that are within range of Clearwire’s WiMax network, even as the beleaguered mobile broadband provider is working on its own transition to LTE while offering its WiMax network to anyone willing to pay its wholesale rates. The only real issue at this point is how FreedomPop’s business model will cover free monthly access for those that purchase the case and simultaneously turn a profit, since it is a venture-backed startup.
